Waste

Our long-term environmental vision includes having zero manufacturing waste going to landfills. We are focusing our manufacturing waste reduction efforts in three main areas:

  • Working to eliminate or reduce solid waste from production processes
  • Identifying ways to repurpose waste as useful raw materials (“Waste-to-Worth”)
  • Designing more material-efficient delivery systems

We set 5 year goals for 2007-2012 to reduce waste disposed by 20% per unit of production, and we significantly exceeded those results, delivering a 71% reduction. Over this same time period, we reduced absolute waste disposed by 68%.

Waste Disposed

Total waste disposed is our key measure to keep waste under control, and it comprises the sum of nonhazardous and hazardous solid waste, plus the strength of effluent measured as Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and air emissions. It excludes recycling or reused waste. It also excludes CO2 emissions.

For the past three years, results have been encouraging on a production-related basis. Total waste disposed for the last three years has been 363 thousand metric tons, 315 thousand metric tons, and 212 thousand metric tons in 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. Since 2002, we have reduced waste disposed by 74% on a production-adjusted basis.

Non-Hazardous Solid Waste Disposed
Overall, the non-hazardous solid waste disposed to landfill decreased from last year to 157 thousand metric tons. P&G continues to find innovative recycling methods.

Hazardous Solid Waste Disposed
Hazardous wastes are defined by regional policies and local rules, so they vary from region to region. To further reduce our risks, the number of approved hazardous waste disposal sites that all plants use has remained limited. Hazardous solid waste disposed decreased to 20 thousand metric tons. We remain focused on trying to minimize hazardous waste disposal.

Waste Recycled

The total percentage of waste recycled increased to 79 percent versus last year.